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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26930347">Hopeless But Still Romantic</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/GotTheSilver/pseuds/GotTheSilver'>GotTheSilver</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Birds of Prey (And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) (2020)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/F, Getting Together, Halloween, POV Harleen Quinzel, Post-Canon</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-11-07</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-11-07</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-07 02:40:10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,567</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26930347</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/GotTheSilver/pseuds/GotTheSilver</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Harley really was trying to give the kid a regular Halloween, she swears. And she's not even going to touch her maybe kind of feelings for Canary.</p><p>Turns out, she doesn't have much of a say in either of those things.</p><p>*</p><p>
  <i>But maybe also Harley wanted an excuse for Dinah to come and find her. It’s not like she really wants to spend a lot of time psychoanalysing herself because that way lies even more madness, but—.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>Dinah does come and find her.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>And Harley likes that.</i>
</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Dinah Lance/Harleen Quinzel</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>63</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Shipoween 2020 - The Halloween Ship Exchange!</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Hopeless But Still Romantic</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/LMD18/gifts">LMD18</a>.</li>



    </ul><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>this was so fun to write, I hope you enjoy! happy halloween!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“I swear to fuck, Harley, if I didn’t like you so much—”</p><p>“Wait,” Harley interrupts. “You like me?”</p><p>“Sometimes,” Dinah laughs softly, before leaning in and kissing her, and wait, what?</p><p>*</p><p>Okay, let’s rewind.</p><p>The last time Harley saw Dinah was that moment at the taco stand before she ran off with Dinah’s car, and like. It’s not that she really meant to steal the car, but it was shiny and she had no transportation, and besides, Dinah was with the new moneybags heiress, she’d be fine.</p><p>But maybe also Harley wanted an excuse for Dinah to come and find her. It’s not like she really wants to spend a lot of time psychoanalysing herself because that way lies even more madness, but—.</p><p>Dinah does come and find her.</p><p>And Harley likes that.</p><p>*</p><p>“It’s my damn car, Harley,” Dinah says, leaning against the doorframe to the apartment Harley and Cass are living in. It’s real fancy, got a bathroom each, and a whole ass balcony. Bruce likes the balcony, he sits out there at night sometimes and freaks out the entire neighbourhood. It’s Gotham, it’s not like he’s the strangest thing out there. Besides, Harley living there has meant the crime rate has gone down, so she figures it’s a small price for her neighbors to pay.</p><p>“I don’t get your point,” Harley says with a shrug, gesturing for Dinah to come in. “It’s a car. Get a new one.”</p><p>“You are unbelievable.”</p><p>Harley makes a noise and grabs the Lucky Charms box from the counter, leaning against the fridge as she eats the cereal out of the box. “It’s my brand now,” she says. “People see the car and they know it’s me.”</p><p>“Is that why there are bullet holes in it?” Dinah asks, folding her arms over her chest. “You think I didn’t see it out there? You could at least take care of it.”</p><p>“I will! I got a guy!”</p><p>“You’ve got a guy?”</p><p>“Yeah.” Harley nods, offering Dinah the Lucky Charms, making a face when she turns them down. “He’s just real busy right now after the thing at the docks with that other dude.”</p><p>Dinah looks at her for a moment before she shakes her head, letting out a quiet laugh. “I don’t know how the hell you stay alive.”</p><p>“I’m a lot smarter than people give me credit for,” Harley says. “There’s that.”</p><p>“Uh huh. So. Where’s Cass?”</p><p>“Getting more Halloween decorations.”</p><p>“Here I thought this was just what your apartment looked like,” Dinah says, raising an eyebrow as she looks around.</p><p>“I mean, the skull over there is Phyllis, she sticks around all year, but—” Harley cuts herself off and shrugs. “The kid’s never had a Halloween. Figured it could be fun.”</p><p>Dinah eyes her, and Harley wants to squirm under her gaze, but she holds firm under it, even though she thinks maybe Dinah is seeing things in her that Harley doesn’t want anyone to see. “Okay,” Dinah says, finally.</p><p>“What?”</p><p>“Just. Okay.” Dinah reaches over and grabs the box, tipping a handful of Lucky Charms into her hand. “You can keep the car.”</p><p>Harley narrows her eyes. “Why?”</p><p>“Because I don’t want to get shot at by people aiming for you,” Dinah says. “I’ve cleaned up enough of your shit.”</p><p>“Whatever. Not like I asked you to get involved, you were the one working for Roman.”</p><p>“Yeah,” Dinah says, a tight smile on her face as she drops the box back on the counter. “We all do what we gotta do.”</p><p>“I didn’t mean—”</p><p>“Bye, Harley,” Dinah calls as she walks out of the apartment, not closing the door behind her.</p><p>“Fuck,” Harley groans, pushing over the box and watching the cereal spilling out on the counter. It’s not like she <i>wants</i> friends, especially not those do gooder babies, but for a moment there, it felt like—.</p><p>Fuck it.</p><p>She’s fine without them.</p><p>*</p><p>And she was, mostly. Sure, she and the kid got into a few scrapes, and maybe one time Canary and Huntress had to pull them out of a pit with snakes, but really, they got along fine by themselves.</p><p>Really.</p><p>Until Halloween, anyway.</p><p>*</p><p>In Harley’s defence, she didn’t know exactly what the object she’d been asked to find would do. She definitely didn’t expect it to be responsible for opening up a whole other dimension.</p><p>Her bad.</p><p>*</p><p>It started off all normal, the guy paid top dollar for the box and Harley stopped in at the store on the way back home to grab some extra candy for the night.</p><p>Then shit got weird.</p><p>Like, real weird.</p><p>Like, turning a corner and seeing a damn dragon weird.</p><p>Yeah, did Harley mention she didn’t know what the box would do?</p><p>*</p><p>“Uh.” Harley pauses, the candy still gripped in her hands as she stares at the dragon. She’s pretty sure it’s a dragon and not some giant lizard having escaped from the zoo because there’s fire coming out of its mouth and Harley doesn’t remember the lizards at the zoo doing that. “Is this some kind of hallucination?” Harley asks out loud, trying to be heard over the screaming.</p><p>There’s some kid filming the dragon, perched on his bike, and she marches over and grabs him by the collar of his vintage t-shirt. “What the fuck, kid?”</p><p>“Oh shit,” the kid gasps out. “You’re—”</p><p>“Yeah, I’m,” Harley says. “What’s with the dragon?”</p><p>“I don’t know shit.”</p><p>“Do I gotta remind you what happened to the last man to piss me off?”</p><p>“No, really, I was just riding around looking for shit to do and this, like, glowing hole opens up and the dragon tumbles out. I swear.”</p><p>Harley lets him go and turns on her heel. “Fucking fantastic,” she mutters under her breath as she takes the long route back to the apartment. “Goddamn Gotham.”</p><p>*</p><p>Cass is on the couch when she gets back, staring at her phone, and she looks up when Harley walks in. “What the fuck is going on out there?”</p><p>“No idea, kid,” Harley says, throwing the candy at her. “Why?”</p><p>“Because it’s happening all over the city,” Cass says, catching the candy with one hand. “Like, everywhere. People keep talkin’ about circles opening up and things coming out of them.”</p><p>“Not our problem.”</p><p>“Yeah. except—”</p><p>Harley pauses as she’s about to sit on the couch. “What?”</p><p>“That guy that hired us? He’s kind of all over the internet yelling about how he’s brought Armageddon on us.”</p><p>“You have got to be fucking kidding me.”</p><p>*</p><p>So, yeah. While it’s not really Harley’s fault, apparently she kind of has a hand in it. And that’s kind of why she ends up calling Canary and the rest of the little crew.</p><p>She and Cass pile into the car to meet the do gooders at the handoff place Harley was at that morning, and when they get there Harley has to stop herself from laughing at their uniforms because please. The dorkiest fucking clothing she’s seen since Roman’s embossed gloves.</p><p>“Before you say anything, this wasn’t my fault,” Harley says as she gets out of the car. “How was I supposed to know that boring old box would bring weird shit into the world?”</p><p>“Because boring old boxes always bring weird shit into the world,” Renee says, holding her hand up and looking to the sky like she’s waiting for something to strike her down. “You couldn’t even do a background check? Seriously, Harley?”</p><p>“Background checks don’t exactly throw up ‘wants to open dimensions’,” Harley says. “It’s more like ‘dude once bounced a check’ or ‘is wanted in seven states’, you used to be a cop, you know that.”</p><p>Harley can tell the cop is about to open her mouth and say something that’s gonna make Harley want to punch her in the boob, but instead Canary jumps in. “Where is he?” Dinah asks, as if Harley knows.</p><p>“The old warehouse on 6th and East,” Cass says, not looking up from her phone. “You guys really need to be online.”</p><p>Huntress nods. “We’ll take care of him,” she says.</p><p>“What? Fuck that,” Harley says. “I helped him with the thing, it’s my damn mess.”</p><p>“Since when do you clean up your own messes?” Renee asks, and, wow, hurtful.</p><p>Harley scuffs her shoe in the dirt and shrugs. “Just a thing I’m tryin’,” she says. “But if you don’t want my help, then—”</p><p>“Get in the damn car, Harley,” Dinah says, rolling her eyes. “We’ll meet you there.”</p><p>“Aces!”</p><p>*</p><p>And, okay, the swirling giant holes all around the dude are like, not optimal, and Montoya is staring at them like she’s regretting quitting the force, but again. Not Harley’s fault, truly.</p><p>“The box,” Huntress yells to be heard over the chaos surrounding them. “Think if we smash it, this will stop?”</p><p>“That’s the plan?” Canary asks. “Seriously?”</p><p>“What else is there? We can’t just let this carry on.”</p><p>Harley shrugs. “We could ask him,” she says, and suddenly she feels Dinah’s eyes on her. “What? I got him the thing, may as well see if asking him about it works.”</p><p>Dinah looks at her in disbelief before she waves a hand in the air. “Sure. Go ahead.”</p><p>Walking over to the dude, Harley ducks out of the way of a group of bats flying towards her and hops over some gooey looking thing before she finally gets within punching distance of this idiot. “Hey, you,” she yells. “Remember me? Lady who found your dumbass box?”</p><p>“Do you see this? Isn’t it stunning,” he says, his eyes practically glowing, and Harley really doesn’t have time for this. “All of this, from one little box. My grandfather told me, he wanted to bring this about after the ‘29 crash, but he didn’t have what he needed, but I—”</p><p>“What is it with dudes and their legacies?” Harley asks rhetorically, before she pulls out the gun she had stashed in her waistband. “I’m gonna need you to tell me how to fix this,” she says. “Like, now.”</p><p>“Oh no, I can’t do that.”</p><p>“Not asking,” Harley says, catching Canary and Montoya moving out the corner of her eye. “See, as much as this world sucks, for the first time in a long time I’m kinda enjoying it, so I can’t agree with the whole armageddon thing. Just not my bag.” Harley takes a step to the right, keeping the dude’s eyes on her. “I never really understood it anyway, the whole wanting to end the world thing,” she continues, moving as she does, hopping over spots of goo from whatever the hell that thing is leaking everywhere. “Causing chaos? Sure, love that, totally get that. Ending the world? What, one big bang and then everything’s over? Typical man.”</p><p>She’s barely finished speaking when an arrow hits the dude from out of nowhere, blood spurting out of his throat, and Harley spins on her heel. “Fuck, you’re cool,” she shouts over at Huntress.</p><p>“Harley!” Dinah yells, struggling with some creature that looks like it has eight arms. “The box.”</p><p>Oops.</p><p>Harley crouches down and picks it up. It’s glowing, so much so that it hurts her eyes, and she holds it up. “What am I meant to do?”</p><p>“Smash it,” Montoya calls as she shoots the monsters on the ground that keep coming at her from one of the portals. “If that doesn’t work, we’re all fucked anyway.”</p><p>“Oh that’s helpful,” Harley mumbles under her breath before she brings it down with all the force she can muster.</p><p>It’s actually kind of anticlimactic, the box shatters, the circles vanish, and all the creepy little things drop dead.</p><p>Sometimes Harley really wishes Gotham had more interesting villains.</p><p>“Cool,” Cass says from behind her, poking at the now dead goo monster. “This is so gross.”</p><p>Which about sums it up.</p><p>*</p><p>So, Halloween was kind of a bust. At least, in the way Harley had planned it. She really had wanted to give the kid a fun Halloween, but instead she gave her an almost armageddon and seeing Huntress shoot an arrow through some dude’s neck.</p><p>Which, okay, would be super cool under any other circumstances, but this was meant to be a horror movie and candy night, not realistic monsters and almost death.</p><p>“Can we still watch some scary movies?” Cass asks as they walk out of the warehouse, leaving the mess behind for someone else to deal with.</p><p>“Sure,” Harley says. “In fact—hey, do-gooders? Wanna come over and watch movies with us? We’ve got candy. Call it a post saving the world sleepover?” She bounces on her toes a little, clapping her hands together, and she’s not nervous that they’ll say no, she’s not. And if she is, that’s just because of Cass.</p><p>“Yeah,” Dinah says, after exchanging looks with Huntress and Montoya. “Sure.”</p><p>“Great! Bring pjs!”</p><p>*</p><p>Turns out, Dinah’s kind of terrified of Michael Myers.</p><p>It’s cute.</p><p>Harley’s on the couch with Dinah, Cass and the others on the floor where Harley dragged a mattress out for everyone to be more comfortable. She can hostess! She can. She’s trying. Anyway, they’re halfway through the og Halloween when Harley notices Dinah’s hand gripping the blanket draped over their laps.</p><p>Harley leans in and nudges Dinah with her elbow. “You okay?”</p><p>“Uh huh.”</p><p>“Because, you know, you don’t really look okay,” Harley continues in a low voice. “Like is it the movie, or did you eat too many red vines, or—”</p><p>“Harley, seriously?”</p><p>“So it’s the movie? We don’t have to keep watchin’ it,” Harley says. “We could go do something else.”</p><p>“No, no, it’s—” Dinah pauses as a shot of Michael appears on screen. “What is with the mask, why’s it always gotta be masks?”</p><p>“Oh, is this a trauma thing after Roman?”</p><p>“I swear to fuck, Harley, if I didn’t like you so much—”</p><p>“Wait,” Harley interrupts. “You like me?”</p><p>“Sometimes,” Dinah laughs softly, before leaning in and kissing her, and wait, what?</p><p>Harley kisses back, because obviously she does, who wouldn’t? Dinah’s hot, and Harley would honestly put her on her back and eat her out until she’s screaming if they weren’t in a  room with two other women and a teenager, but them's the breaks sometimes.</p><p>When the kiss ends, Harley stares at Dinah. “You like me?”</p><p>“Damnit, Harley, can’t you just take the kiss and like it?” Dinah hisses.</p><p>“I mean, yeah, but—not that many people actually like me, and I’m kind of wondering if you hit your head.”</p><p>“Wow,” Dinah says. “You’re really not good at this.”</p><p>“I’m not exactly lucky in this whole area,” Harley says. “And it’s not like you ever said anything.”</p><p>“I let you keep my car after you stole it,” Dinah says. “I thought you’d, y’know, get the message.”</p><p>“Oh,” Harley says. “<i>Oh</i>.”</p><p>“Yeah.”</p><p>“You like me,” Harley says. “And you’re like, really scared of Michael Myers if it was easier for you to kiss me instead of watching the movie.”</p><p>Dinah shakes her head, the corners of her mouth turning up in a small hint of a smile and Harley grins.</p><p>“Can you both shut up now?” Cass calls from the floor. “Some of us want to actually watch the movie.”</p><p>Kids these days, Harley thinks as she kicks her legs over Dinah’s lap and grabs a red vine from the packet on her lap. No respect for romance.</p>
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